Receptacle closure means



Dec. 14, 1948.

G. KEITH RECEPTACLE CLOSURE MEANS Filed Feb. 14, 1944 awe/whom Patented Dec. 14, 1948 RECEPTACLE CLOSURE MEANS Glenn Keith, East Detroit, Mich., assignor of one-fourth to Milton M. Weinstein, one-tenth to Elias Goldberg, one-tenth to Harry Weinstein, one-tenth to Barnett B. Covent, and one-. tenth to William Mintz, all of Detroit, Mich.

Application February 14, 1944, Serial No. 522,355

4 Claims.

The present invention relates to sealing mem-' bers and more particularly to means for tightly sealing the orifice of a vessel or container; Devices embodying the fundamental principles of the invention may take various forms, such as caps for vessels such as bottles, jars and the like, or gasket-type sealing means adapted to be interposed between avessel and its closure.

The general objects of the invention are concerned with providing a sealing means which will be economical to manufacture, easy to apply and remove, and. durable in use, and an incidental object and advantage includes the use of materials which are abundant and regularly obtainable in domestic markets.

In order to seal the orifice of a vessel or container it is necessary to provide a cap, plug or other type of closure member, to cooperate with a seat surrounding the orificef'Gener'ally some portion of the closure member is formed to make,

tight and leakproof engagement with the seat, and it is to this type of closure that the present invention relates.

A feature of the invention resides in making the sealing means out of a member having a distensible, resilient or yieldable wall which confines a fiuid in a chamber in such as way that th imposition of pressure, such as that resulting from the act of tightening the closure member on the vessel, tends to compress the fluid and thereby distend the-chamber wall or walls into sealin engagement with an adjacent seat. Since the fluid pressure acts equally in all directions in accordance with well known principles, every point on the distensible surface is urged against the seat, and by suitable selection of material and thickness characteristics for the wall providing the distensible surface it is possible to have the sealing member distend or yield so as to fill every large or minute irregularity in the seat. In this way a very effective seal is easily provided.

The mate ial of which the wall defi ing the fluid-containing chamber and providing the sealing surface is formed is preferably a suitable synthetic plastic. Satisfactory examples of such plastics will be suggested hereinafter. but it is sufficient for the present to state that any material may be used which has sufficient mechanical strength, appropriate resistance to such temperatures and materials as may be encountered in use. and sufiicient elasticity to be distensible or yieldable in the necessary degree. A large number of such materials are now available. as is well known to those skilled in the art, and no difficulty will be I experienced by such persons in selecting entirely adequate plastic materials for any ordinary sealing purpose.

The invention will now be more fully explained in terms of a certain illustrative embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevational View of the upper part of a fruit jar showing the cap provided with a form of sealing means contemplated by the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the cap shown in Fig. 1; and I Fig. 3 is a central longitudinal section of the upper part of a fruit jar showing a cap provided with a modified type of sealing means.

It is to be understood that the foregoing views of the cap l0,'here shown as a screw cap, being provided in the form of an annular chamber ll located in the closed end of the cap adjacent to its top l2 and its side wall I3. The ent re cap is best made of suitable plastic, but all parts are made too thick to be readily distensible except the inner wall M of the chamber H, which is made thin enough to be distensible. It is this wall [4 of course which engages in sealing contact with the seat provided on the upper end of the jar neck.

The chamber ll may be filled with a suitable liquid by first forming the cap with a slot 16 opening through the top of the cap. Liquid may be introduced through this slot and the slot may then be closed in any convenient way, e. g an annular plate ll of plastic may be cemented or welded to close the slot as shown in Fig. 3.

In any case a fluid-containing chamber is made integral with the cap, located, when the cap is in place on the jar, opposite the seat provided on the end of the jar, and having engageable with such seat a comparatively thin distensible wall M which becomes distended into tight seating engagement with the jar when the cap is turned down on the jar neck.

The liquid may be water, preferably having in solution some suitable freezing point depressant, in order to prevent freezing of the liquid if subjected tolow temperatures. .bilifilltmay-be used, but in any case it will be appreciated that the liquid is substantially incompressible, so that pressure applied to the chamber H will resultni'n distending its walls in proportion to athe pres-t sure applied. I prefer to use a liquid' because 'a gas fill, such as air, is compressibleswithmitszmaterial distension of the walls=of the' chamb'er and hence much greater compression-forcesmustbe applied to a chamber filledwith?airto produce appreciable distension of its walls.

As has been stated, the:sele'c'tion -ofs-specific plastics for any expected conditions of .usepresents no difficulty in view of the widerangeof properties now afforded by the numerous plas- 20 tics-which "are *readily-'- available. Because 'the conditions of use,"particularly in respectbf temperatures, character of vesselcontentsfidegree -oi pressure which-may bee'xpected to b' e= applid etc,

'- will necessarily vary -quite' widely, it i's imprac- --tical 'to 'recmnmend -any*particular -'-plas'tic. I

might, however, state that some of the vinyl compounds; such as t'he thermopla'stic formed -by-the copolymerization '-'of Vinylidene and 'vinyl chlorides produced by Dow 'GhemicaI'Gompany' under the trade name Saran are suitable for conditionswherethe' temperatures under conditions of use will not exceed approximately lltl" F.; a1id where hi'gher -temperaturesaare expectedsto be met some of thewen: known phenol form'ald'ehyide have s'oftening condensation products, which 'I'claim: V v 1. A sealing-"member foriithe orifi'ce' ofl a container' vessel of the class consisting of bottles and jars; said 'me'mber- -oompris'ing :a-Mcapv'h'avingla wall which is integral with the cap fandiis'iormed of: distensible material; and a'filiqlllidfifill rinlthe chamber, said xcap being adaptedi-toobe? pressed em thea've'ssel so 'asstorfengage said wallwwith a seat formedi onthe vessel'tand diStBIidithEiWfiH Jinto sealing' engagement withz'saidvseat.

2. A sealing member forx the orifice- 'ofea container vessel of-the class'consistingof bottles 'and ":j ars having anopening' surrounded by =an annular seat, :said sealing member =comprising a cap formedwith" a closed IinternaP-chamberofannular shape defined by the-body :of the cap-and-by a distensible wall integral with said body, a liquid fill in said chamber, and means for securingv the cap to the vessel so as to apply pressure to the liquid and thereby distend said Wall into seal- 5 ing engagement with said seat.

3..Aisealing membenforathe' orifice of a container vessel of the classzconsisting of bottles and jars having an opening surrounded by an an- .anular seat, said sealing member comprising a .unitaryvcap. having a relatively thick and nondformable 'body provided with a relatively thin aandidistensiblewall having its edges integrally conriected's toi-the body and its central zone I spaced therefrom to form with the body a closed 1 :zannularzchamben-a liquid fill in said chamber,

"'and'nieans ior securing the cap to the vessel so as:to -applygpressure to the liquid and thereby distend said wall into sealing engagement with said seat.

4. A closure cap foria container of the class c'onsisting ot bottles'landizj arsiha'ving an vopening vsurrounded byiianriianirulartseat, :said cap; com- -prisinga relatively'izthickiancl substantially non- -deformable body zzrhaving an annular chamber -providedi wilth az re'lativelyithinr, and :;deformable w'all'integral withl'th body and adapted to engage -the' containerii;se'at'awhenathe-anapiis" in 1 closing po's'ition on :ithe container, aia sport extending through the cap wall opposite'thedeformable' wall i for .theiirrtnoducftion rof: zliql'iidi intoi ithe; chamber,

' a-rliquidvfill: intzthe::chamber,'= and: means sealing the p'ortziandlotherebyeconfining ":the ;-:fill-- in. the

' 'chamber; v i

v v 1 GLENN-KEITH. ,rREEERLENoEsgmTEn ffhe" follow ingwef'erences areof record in the .UN ITEn, sTATEs,RATENTS 

